Cleared: Tests prove man who confessed to murder is actually innocent

HE has spent five weeks in prison, genuinely believing he had murdered his lover.

Jamie Nicholson has been behind bars since telling detectives he had killed Belinda Dalby during a night of passion at his flat last month.

But today he is a free man after he was sensationally acquitted of murder when his case took a dramatic twist yesterday.

The 30-year-old was called up before Winchester Crown Court to be told that the detailed post mortem examination into the 26-year-old Miss Dalby’s death now proved that he was innocent of killing her.

The news came just hours after Hampshire’s Major Investigation Team received a report from a Home Office pathologist that ruled the death was not suspicious.

Nicholson, of Edelvale Road, was arrested the same evening Miss Dalby’s body was discovered in a Southampton hostel on June 13.

The discovery sparked a major police investigation as distraught friends and family laid floral tributes to the former Alderman Quilley pupil at Jordan House, the Society of St James hostel in Millbrook Road East, where she was found.

Miss Dalby had been staying there for a couple of months, having moved around a number of times in recent years, but had grown up in the Boyatt Wood area of Eastleigh.

The court heard how Nicholson walked into a police station and told officers “I have killed somebody, Belinda Dalby, in my flat last night”. He later told an officer when he was formally arrested: “I’m guilty, I did it.”

But yesterday afternoon Prosecutor Stuart Ellacott told the court: “We received the post-mortem report, which now means in effect the Crown is unable to put forward the case for murder.

“It would seem this was an unfortunate death caused by a self-inflicted overdose of drugs.

“The reason for the charge was there was a ligature around the neck.

The post-mortem report said that can be discounted as a cause of death.”

During the eight minute hearing, Mr Nicholson sat in the dock sipping water, twitching nervously and flanked by two security guards.

Mr Ellacott added: “The crown will be offering no evidence.”

When asked by the Recorder of Winchester, Judge Keith Cutler, if the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had considered other charges, specifically relating to the ligature, Mr Ellacott said they had, but it was “not thought appropriate”.

Nick Tucker, defending Mr Nicholson, said his client believed he had contributed to the death.

He said: “There was the assumption when he found her dead he must have been responsible, but he has no recollection.”

He added there was some suggestion that Mr Nicholson and Miss Dalby may have been playing a sex game involving the ligature.

Mr Nicholson was formally arraigned with the murder allegedly committed between June 11 and June 14 and he pleaded not guilty.

Before formally discharging him, Judge Cutler told the court that Mr Nicholson “indicates he can’t remember because of the drugs that he had taken”.

A middle-aged couple, believed to be Mr Nicholson's parents, were in the public gallery but declined to speak to the Daily Echo as they left court.

Mr Nicolson left in a car from the courthouse car park.

A statement from Hampshire Police said that a report is being prepared for the coroner.

Comments

Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.

Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.rudolph_hucker

Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.

Score: -5

Quite Frankly
9:48am Fri 25 Jul 14

rudolph_hucker wrote…

Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.

Show some respect.

[quote][p][bold]rudolph_hucker[/bold] wrote:
Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.[/p][/quote]Show some respect.Quite Frankly

rudolph_hucker wrote…

Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.

Show some respect.

Score: 3

[deleted]
9:20am Fri 25 Jul 14

[deleted]

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My Uncle Landon just got an almost new yellow Dodge Challenger SRT8 by working part-time from a computer. browse around this site

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Score: 1

[deleted]
9:21am Fri 25 Jul 14

[deleted]

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Score: 0

Zexagon
9:47am Fri 25 Jul 14

The echo has used a photo from the lady found by the bin store further up the road in the paper copy for this story, unbelievable

The echo has used a photo from the lady found by the bin store further up the road in the paper copy for this story, unbelievableZexagon

The echo has used a photo from the lady found by the bin store further up the road in the paper copy for this story, unbelievable

Score: 3

CHIMPANZEE
3:45pm Fri 25 Jul 14

Another case of miscarriage of Justice - just caught I time

Another case of miscarriage of Justice - just caught I timeCHIMPANZEE

Another case of miscarriage of Justice - just caught I time

Score: -5

HillsidePaul
6:15pm Fri 25 Jul 14

CHIMPANZEE wrote…

Another case of miscarriage of Justice - just caught I time

A man confesses to a crime assuming it was his fault. The evidence proves otherwise. the Court agrees.

This is not a "miscarriage of justice caught in time" it is a good example of the carriage of justice.

[quote][p][bold]CHIMPANZEE[/bold] wrote:
Another case of miscarriage of Justice - just caught I time[/p][/quote]A man confesses to a crime assuming it was his fault. The evidence proves otherwise. the Court agrees.
This is not a "miscarriage of justice caught in time" it is a good example of the carriage of justice.HillsidePaul

CHIMPANZEE wrote…

Another case of miscarriage of Justice - just caught I time

A man confesses to a crime assuming it was his fault. The evidence proves otherwise. the Court agrees.

This is not a "miscarriage of justice caught in time" it is a good example of the carriage of justice.

Score: 8

Huey
9:17pm Fri 25 Jul 14

rudolph_hucker wrote…

WalkingOnAWire wrote…

rudolph_hucker wrote…

Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.

Massively insightful, thank you for this.

The mind boggles.
What some folk get up to behind closed doors eh.
But they would probably still be alive if they hadn't been into all that kind of stuff, and that is where the real tragedy is.

They aren't dead, she is.
But they were probably both into all that

[quote][p][bold]rudolph_hucker[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]WalkingOnAWire[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]rudolph_hucker[/bold] wrote:
Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.[/p][/quote]Massively insightful, thank you for this.[/p][/quote]The mind boggles.
What some folk get up to behind closed doors eh.
But they would probably still be alive if they hadn't been into all that kind of stuff, and that is where the real tragedy is.[/p][/quote]They aren't dead, she is.
But they were probably both into all thatHuey

rudolph_hucker wrote…

WalkingOnAWire wrote…

rudolph_hucker wrote…

Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.

Massively insightful, thank you for this.

The mind boggles.
What some folk get up to behind closed doors eh.
But they would probably still be alive if they hadn't been into all that kind of stuff, and that is where the real tragedy is.

They aren't dead, she is.
But they were probably both into all that

Score: 0

WalkingOnAWire
8:40pm Fri 25 Jul 14

rudolph_hucker wrote…

Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.

Massively insightful, thank you for this.

[quote][p][bold]rudolph_hucker[/bold] wrote:
Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.[/p][/quote]Massively insightful, thank you for this.WalkingOnAWire

rudolph_hucker wrote…

Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.

Massively insightful, thank you for this.

Score: -1

rudolph_hucker
9:01pm Fri 25 Jul 14

WalkingOnAWire wrote…

rudolph_hucker wrote…

Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.

Massively insightful, thank you for this.

The mind boggles.
What some folk get up to behind closed doors eh.
But they would probably still be alive if they hadn't been into all that kind of stuff, and that is where the real tragedy is.

[quote][p][bold]WalkingOnAWire[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]rudolph_hucker[/bold] wrote:
Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.[/p][/quote]Massively insightful, thank you for this.[/p][/quote]The mind boggles.
What some folk get up to behind closed doors eh.
But they would probably still be alive if they hadn't been into all that kind of stuff, and that is where the real tragedy is.rudolph_hucker

WalkingOnAWire wrote…

rudolph_hucker wrote…

Pretty weird stuff, ligatures, drugs and the like. That must be what they were into.

Massively insightful, thank you for this.

The mind boggles.
What some folk get up to behind closed doors eh.
But they would probably still be alive if they hadn't been into all that kind of stuff, and that is where the real tragedy is.

Score: 0

Huey
9:12pm Fri 25 Jul 14

Drugs? Ligatures?
Some people clearly have a death wish.
Dead she learn nothing from the death of Michael Hutchence, and kristian digby? And David carradine. And probably a load of others.
RIP

Drugs? Ligatures?
Some people clearly have a death wish.
Dead she learn nothing from the death of Michael Hutchence, and kristian digby? And David carradine. And probably a load of others.
RIPHuey

Drugs? Ligatures?
Some people clearly have a death wish.
Dead she learn nothing from the death of Michael Hutchence, and kristian digby? And David carradine. And probably a load of others.
RIP

Score: 0

CHIMPANZEE
10:06pm Fri 25 Jul 14

Justice is done. Had there been death penalty no chance of such justice

Justice is done. Had there been death penalty no chance of such justiceCHIMPANZEE

Justice is done. Had there been death penalty no chance of such justice

Score: 0

Zexagon
10:33pm Fri 25 Jul 14

CHIMPANZEE wrote…

Justice is done. Had there been death penalty no chance of such justice

I don't think they'd have hung him before the result of the post mortem do you?

[quote][p][bold]CHIMPANZEE[/bold] wrote:
Justice is done. Had there been death penalty no chance of such justice[/p][/quote]I don't think they'd have hung him before the result of the post mortem do you?Zexagon

CHIMPANZEE wrote…

Justice is done. Had there been death penalty no chance of such justice

I don't think they'd have hung him before the result of the post mortem do you?

Ipsoregulated

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